Color-filter negative and the process of preparing same



1,349,95 Patented Aug. 17,1920.

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JOSEPH ARTHUR HENRY HAT'I', 0F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

COLOR-FILTER NEGATIVE AND THE PROCESS OF PREPARING SAME.

Application filed December 28, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH ARTHUR HENRY Harna citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of Brookl 11, county of Kings, city and State of ew York, have invented a new Color-Filter Negative and the Process of Preparing Same, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to the art of printing in colors and more particularly to the preparation of the color plates by photomechanical processes. The object of the invention is to correct unsatisfactory color filter negatives in a mechanical way whereby better printing results are obtained while the necessity of hand work is substantially eliminated.

I have illustrated my process and the resensitized plate in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a section through a negative prepared in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2 represents the chart or picture from which the negatives are prepared; Fig. 3 represents diagrammatically the correction of the purple-red'platc ployed. Three and four color for three color work, while Fig. 4 represents diagrammatically corrections taking place in connection with the subtraction of black in four color process work.

The usual processes of color printing wherein relief photo-mechanical plates are used, are known respectively as the three color process or the four color process. In the three color process the three primary colors alone are'used, while in the four color process an additional black plate is emprocess negatives may also be used for plates where a lar er. amount of color, printing plates are use especially in planograph color printing, the same negative being used for one or more plates.

For the purpose of describing the invention, it Wlll be set forth at length in connection with itsuse in the three color proces's. In that process each of the three negatives is produced by photographing the picture to be reproduced through a 'color filter suitable for the color selection which is desired. The plates used for such negatives are known as color sensitive plates under various trade names. The preparation and handling of such plates represents common practice and is well known in the art. example, the blue printing plate 1s generally Specification of Letters Patent.

making color For Patented Aug. 17, 1920. Serial No. 268,617.

made through a red color filter and a fairly accurate result is obtained from a negative thus prepared, the negative showing the proper values of the blue in all of its combinations and the proper values of the black as well. The negative for the yellow printing plate, made through a violet color filter, is also quite satisfactory although not as accurate as the blue negative. Compara tively little correction is needed for the yellow plate and such as is required is generally done by hand. The negative for the purple-red printing plate, on the other hand,

which is made-through a green color filter,

is quite incorrect in yellows and blacks represented in the purple-red negative are fairly correct,

but those parts which represent and greens are quite faulty, ably lacking in density at those portions. To meet this difficulty it is generally necessary to correct those portions which represent therblues and greens on the purple-red printing plate by hand methods, which are ex ensive and unsatisfactory.

t is the object of this invention to super: sede these known methods of correcting plates and to replace them by a method which is cheap, efficient and produces infinitely better results. My invention is carried out as follows, connection with the three color process it obviously applies to other processes, having in view the production of a half tone printing surface, either relief, planographic or intaglio. In the three color process I prepare the usual three negatives in the usual manner from a chart or picture of which Fig. 2 illustrates a typical specimen. hen the negatives are develo ed, fixed and dried, the purple-ed (green filter) negative is resensitized as a wet plate by coating it with negative collodion and then immersin it in a silver nitrate bath in the same wel known manner that is employed in propering wet lates. Before applying this new sensitize surface, I prefer to coat the purple-red negative with a thin rubber solution, such as is uscd by photo-engravers the blues being considergenerally for strippingpurposes, or any and While described in lower surface is a 1 is shown in section in Fig. 1 of the drawings in which A represents the glass plate or foundation, B the developed negative made by photographing the original picture J through a green color filter, C a film of transparent rubber and D a new a photogra hically sensitive surface.

he plate with its added sensitized surface is then placed in the holder of a camera which is adapted to carry at the. other en the negative for the blue printing plate. The camera should .be arranged and set up in such a way that the blue plate can be placed in exact registry, with respect to design, A camera suitable for made by using a central lens with a fixed focus and arranging a plate holder at equal distances from said lens, one of the plate holders being provided with adjusting mechanism, preferably screw controlled, to allow the plate in said holder to be brought in exact and precise registr with the plate in the opposite holder.

red resensitized plate s inserted in such with the developed purple-red plate. this purpose may be hen the purpletion of the yellow, are notdense enough an require reinforcing. According to my process'this is accomplished by resensitizing the negative for. the black in" the same manner as explained for the purple-red negative. It is then placed in the camera and given a small exposure throughthe purple-red negause in making a half tone no a camera and positioned therein so that the .image of the blue negative will exactly the purple-red Prior to aque the coincide with the image on negative, an exposure is made. such exposure it is advlsable to o blue negative on the back thereo so as to prevent any light action except on the parts where correction is needed. At those parts where the'purple-red negative requires most correction, the blue negative is found to be the complementary of the purple ered negative. In other words, the blue negative would make a good positive of thepurplered negative in those parts thereof which represent the blues and greens of the original picture. During the exposure the blue negative is properly illuminated by any suitable method.

After the exposure the purple-red plate is taken to the dark room and developed.

.Owing to the fact that the wet plate is developed and manipulated in a comparatively bright yellow light, it is fairly easy to judge the amount of development so that the development can be regulated with the greatest nicety "to carry it ing for the purple-red as the negative for the blue does for the. blue. The course of tive and through the blue negative, and a small exposure may also be given through the yellow negative if it is found necessary. When properly exposed and developed, this negative should give a correct rendering of the blacks in the picture and is ready for ative or half tone positive, as the case may e, to be used inmaking a printing plate in any of the methods which are well lmown in the art. The course of the procedure as involved in the four color process is illustrated in Fig. 4 ofthe drawings.

It will be observed that in making a set of three, color negatives, the negatives in each case have a record of the black in the picture in addition to the various colors which they represent. This is a necessary requirement of the three color process since it takes the combination of the three colors,

. black value from each of the color negatives.

My. process will thus enable negatives to be corrected until they truly represent just just'far enough to make the required correction in the negative. The

the-procedure as involved in the three color process is illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawlng.

the proper proportion of each color required in the picture,- as well as the proper amount "of black.

So far as I am aware, I am the first to photograph a corrective image over and to form part of a previously exposed and developed image.

What I claim is: p L

1. The process which consists in preparing a photographic negative from a picture by exposure through a certain color filter, developing the plate 'so produced and superposing above "said developed surface a new photographically sensitiv surface, placing the design of the first layer in exact pho- I tographicregistry with the image of a negaan exposure,

' that improvement tive made from the original picture but through a different color filter, then making an exposure, and then developing and fixing the image in said new sensitive surface whereby a corrected color separation negative suitable for transfer to a printing plate is obtained.

2. The process which consists in prepar ing a photographic negative from the picture by exposure through a certain color filter, developing the plate so produced and applying a protective layer to said developed image, forming thereon a new photographically sensitive surface, placing the design of the first layer in exact photographic registry with the image of a negative made from the. original picture but through a different colorfilter, then making and then developing and fixing the image 1n said new sensitive surface whereby a corrected color separation negative suitable for transfer to a printing plate is obtained.

3. The process which consists in preparing a photographic negative from a picture by exposure through a certain color filter, developing the plate so produced and super-- posing above said developed surface a new photographically sensitive surface, placing the design of the first layer in exact photographic registry with the image of a negative made from the original picture but through a different color filter, making an exposure and then successively placing the design of the first layer in registry with the image of other negatives made through different color filters and making successive exposures, and then-developing and fixing the image in said new sensitive surface whereby a corrected color separation negative suitable for transfer to a printing plate is obtained.

4. In the art of preparing printing plates that improvement which consists in preparing a plurality of negatives comprising photographically developed images from the same object, preparing a corrective negative from one of said-negatives on a photographically sensitive surface, developing the same, and then preparing a combined design of the developed corrective negative andone of the original negatives other than the one from which the corrective plate was preared. p 5. In the art of preparing printing plates which consists in preparing a plurality of negatives comprising photographically developed images from the same object, applying a photographically sensitive surface above that of the developed image on one of said plates, preparing a. corrective negative from another of said negatives onsaid photographically sensitive surface, developing the same, and then preparing a combined design of the developed corrective negative and of the developed image beneath the same.

6. In the art of preparing printing plates that improvement which consists in preparing a plurality of negatives comprising photographically developed images from the same object, preparing a corrective negative from a plurality of said negatives on a photographically sensitive surface, developing the same, and then preparing a combined design of the developed corrective negative and one of the original negatives other than the ones from which the corrective plate was prepared.

7. In the art of preparing printing that improvement which consists in preparing a plurality of negatives comprising photographically developed images from the same object, applying a photographically sensitive surface above that of the developed image on one of said plates, preparing on said surface a corrective negative from a plurality of the original negatives other than that carrying the said sensitive surface, developing the same, and then preparing a combined design of the developed corrective negative and of the developed image beneath the same.

8. ,A color filter negative for use in lithography comprising a transparent foundation and upon said foundation a developed photographic image composed only of uncolored relatively transparent and opaque portions and lacking a selected color value, and above said image a further developed photographic image of the same character but lacking a different color value in registry with that .of the image beneath and developed independently thereof.

9. A color filter negative for use in lithography comprising a transparent foundation and upon said foundation a developed photographic image composed only of uncolored relatively transparent and opaque portions and lacking a selected color value and above said image a further developed photographic image of the same character but lacking a different color value in registry with that of the image beneath and developed independently thereof, and an inert layer of transparent protective material between the layers of the two images.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

plates JOSEPH ARTHUR HENRY HATT. 

